2003 Updates to the PC Technology Guide – www.pctechguide.com

Date

Details of updates

1Dec

’03

DVD: New DVD+R section added, with the information on both this and the rival DVD-R format updated in light of recent announcements of the development of dual-layer versions which increase capacity from the current 4.7GB to 8.5GB.

23Oct

’03

Tutorials: New HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR AUDIO SUBSYSTEM tutorial added.

12Oct

’03

Processors: Section on Northwood updated to cover the introduction, in the spring of 2003, of a 800MHz FSB version of the CPU supporting – via the i875P/i865 chipset platform – a dual-channel DDR memory architecture, with the Roadmap correspondingly updated to reflect Intel’s current product development plans for mainstream desktop CPUs;

System Memory: Section on DDR DRAM expanded and updated and – following on from last month’s look at Intel’s new i865 and i875P chipsets – the new Dual-channel DDR section describes the latest and fastest DDR memory modules can be deployed to better match the bandwidth capability of the latest 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 processors. Tutorials: New HOW TO INSTALL A PENTIUM 4 CPU tutorial added.

1Oct

’03

Licensing: Alteration of the licensing structure, with use of Glossary functionality no longer being restricted to licensed users and the Education licence option being terminated. The benefit to Individual and Corporate licensees now amounts to continuous access to the Word and HTML downloadable versions of the site. The latter are additionally permitted unrestricted use of site material within their organisation – including the establishment of the site on a company intranet – provided it is not be used for financial gain.

For a limited period, licensees will get a miniCD version of the site (effectively the HTML download on CD) upon registration.

1Sep

’03

Chipsets: Updated to cover Intel’s recent chipset offerings, with new sections on each of the Intel E7205 chipset, i875P chipset and i865 chipset, together with a Comparison chart identifying and comparing a number of their – and their immediate predecessors’ – principal characteristics.

1Aug

’03

Licensing: Use of page header Search Box no longer restricted to licensed users.

Mobile Computing: Section added on Centrino, the new mobile processor technology launched by Intel earlier in the year, designed to foster a new generation of portable PCs that run longer on battery power and connect more easily to wireless networks.

Tutorials: New HOW TO INSTALL A SCSI DEVICE tutorial added.

1Jul

’03

Tutorials: New HOW TO INSTALL A FRONT-LOADING DRIVE tutorial added.

1Jun

’03

Motherboards: Section added on EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), Intel’s proposal for replacing the system BIOS with a tiny independent OS which will allow system builders to include diagnostic tools that would still be accessible in the event of a system crash.

Tutorials: New HOW TO UPDATE YOUR SYSTEM BIOS tutorial added.

12May

’03

Licensing: For a trial period, in addition to access to restricted site content, your licence fee will also get you a miniCD version of the site!

Interfaces: Reorganised to relocate the sections on IDE, EIDE, ATA, SCSI, Fibre channel and SSA – previously covered in the Hard Disks guide. Information comprehensively updated and new section added on PCI Express, the long-awaited successor to the PCI standard used to connect internal host adapter cards to PCs.

Tutorials: New HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR MOTHERBOARD tutorial added.

2Apr

’03

Tutorials: New HOW TO DO A CLEAN INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS XP tutorial added.

27Mar

’03

Tutorials: New HOW TO INSTALL A SECOND HARD DISK DRIVE tutorial added.

12Mar

’03

Tutorials: New HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR GRAPHICS CARD tutorial added.

1Mar

’03

Restricted functionality: Major changes to the site this month, with the introduction of the concept of restricted functionality, to which only licensed users are permitted access. The site has become too much for one (retired!) person to handle. The licensing structure seeks to balance the desire for the site to continue as an essentially free-to-access informational resource with the need to generate sufficient revenues to support its continued existence. The strategy adopted means that all of site’s core content remains freely available to everyone, with only added-value features becoming restricted. Furthermore, the price structure seeks to be as fair as possible to the many students that use the site on a regular basis.

Tutorials: The site’s new Tutorials section is an important part of the added-value content available to licensed users. It’s aim is to provide a definitive, graphics rich series of step-by-step How To tutorials covering both system maintenance tasks and leisure activities, such as transferring an LP collection to CD or an archive of VCR tape footage to DVD.

The feature debuts this month with tutorials on:

– HOW TO DO A CLEAN INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS 98 and,

– HOW TO SET UP AND SHARE A BROADBAND INTERNET CONNECTION

1Feb

’03

HardDisks: Section added on File systems, covering the various Windows file systems from FAT12 – first introduced in 1984, through to NTFS – support for which was extended to the desktop arena by the 2001 release of Windows XP.

1Jan

’03

CRT Monitors: Section added on LightFrame technology, Philips’ groundbreaking hardware/software technology which dramatically enhances the display quality of photos and videos in a selected display window without adversely affecting the clarity of text in an adjacent portion of the screen;

Sound cards: General update, with section on USB sound expanded to include Creative Labs’ innovative, external sound card Exigy component, which first appeared in early 2002;

CD-R/CD-RW: Sections added on Disc capacities and Overburning, reflecting the fashion for maximising the storage capacity of CD media that emerged amidst the confusion and uncertainty that surrounded the recordable DVD formats in the early 2000s.

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